The Corporeal Fantasy Read online

  Any human behavior based on the emotions will be inconstant. It has to be this way because feelings are merely a passive response to the environment. As things change so do our emotions, and so you can never rely on a person who is driven by strong emotions. One minute they will be all over you like a severe rash, and the next minute they will want you hung drawn and quartered.

  If we look at the suffering we impose on each other we will find emotion to be the driving engine. Religious zeal, ideological frenzy, racial hatred, and nationalism exist at the macro level. Envy and jealousy operate at the personal level, and Spinoza went as far as to suggest that envy was the default emotional state for human beings.

  Contrary to the notion that it is our emotions that make us human, it is the emotions that make us inhuman. They drive all the flavors of cruelty and abuse. The person of reason is derided by people who put their emotions up on a pedestal. They portray images of geeks with no social skills and an inability to relate warmly to other human beings. Not so. Someone who is reasonable has the self-awareness to be kind and considerate even when the other party is not. Kindness, compassion, and goodwill are the children of a reason. The emotions can only operate by “like and dislike” and are unreliable and often destructive.

  So it isn’t your emotions that make you human. You share your emotional nature with the animals – one minute elated and the next deflated depending on circumstances. Of course, there is nothing here that is mandatory. If you are happy to be a leaf in the wind, relying upon good or bad circumstances to determine your emotional state, then all of this will be meaningless. However if your suffering and that of others is of concern to you, then it might at least be worth considering the role of reason in life.

  NECESSARY CONFLICT

  Wouldn’t it be nice if we all helped each other. Yes it would, and it would also be nice if there was no cancer, no poverty, no one died, and everyone could win the lottery. Time to put away childish things.

  The reality of existence on this planet called Earth is billions of creatures all desperately striving to survive, usually at the expense of other creatures. These dynamics are well understood in several disciplines, and not least Game Theory, where conflict is taken for granted. Here is a quote from one of the classics in game theory, The Strategy of Conflict by Thomas Schelling:

  “There are those that treat conflict as a pathological state and seek its causes and treatment, and those that take conflict for granted and study the behavior associated with it.”

  Most people treat conflict as a pathology, even though it is as old as history and manifests at every level within society – personal conflicts, religious conflicts, political conflicts, commercial conflicts – and so on. It makes much more sense to see conflict as an inevitable outcome of the way the game of life is set up, with each creature striving for power and dominance in its insane striving to exist.

  Oddly enough a reasoned approach to conflict, as opposed to an emotional one, has proved to be very productive. People who act reasonably can be dealt with in a productive way, whereas emotional basket-cases cannot. This is why, in my experience at least, those people who make impassioned pleas for fellowship and unity, are the very ones that will vigorously attack anyone who does not subscribe to their point of view.

  All of the behaviors that we see as aberrant, are actually perfectly normal given the way the game of life is set up (many creatures competing for resources). So here are a few examples of perfectly normal behavior:

  Sabotaging the reputation of someone at work who is competing with you for a promotion.

  Buying cheap clothes made in sweat shops where people are paid a dollar a day.

  Lying about the reliability and mechanical soundness of a car to a prospective buyer.

  Hiding cracks and possible structural problems when selling a house.

  Lying on a job application form.

  All these examples result in an advantage for the person concerned at the expense of someone else. To try and moderate the natural tendency for one person to gain an advantage at the expense of another we have laws, a legal system, a police force, and generally understood codes of conduct. Even so, the natural tendency for one person to disadvantage another when possible cannot be wholly inhibited.

  The moral of this story is simple. We cannot rely on “goodwill”, cooperation, brotherly and sisterly love, or any other emotions to protect people from one another. Reason and the application of law are the only tools we have to make life tolerable. In game theory we always assume the other parties are lying and will attempt to maximize their advantage at everyone else’ cost. Conflict is built into the game, and so we should assume lying, deceit, and stealing will be the rule.

  THE JOY OF SCHADENFREUDE

  Christopher Hitchens was once asked what the purpose of life was. He replied that it was to crow over other people’s misfortunes – in other words experience schadenfreude. This word of German origin has two parts – schaden (harm), and freude (joy) – to derive joy from another’s harm.

  Schadenfreude is our secret joy, the worm that eats into the heart of the rose. Driving this sentiment is the thing that drives all our emotions – the survival instinct. The basic dynamics of this driver say that when you are stronger I am weaker, and when I am stronger you are weaker. And so it would make sense that we crow over other people’s misfortunes, since their weakness is our strength.

  Various philosophers have commented on this emotion and it’s close relative, envy. In fact schadenfreude is just one aspect of envy, since envy also includes the pain we experience when another person experiences good fortune, in addition to the pleasure we get from their ill fortune. Here is what Spinoza says about envy:

  Envy is hatred, insofar as it so affects a man that he is pained at another’s good fortune and rejoices at another’s ill-fortune. Spinoza, The Ethics

  As you can see Spinoza considers envy, and hence schadenfreude, to be a form of hatred. Of course most of us will deny having such feelings, particularly in our increasingly politically correct society. All this political correctness does is push the beast further into the subconscious where it eventually surfaces in even more harmful behaviors. The beast, our survival instinct, will not be denied, and will always find a way to achieve its aims.

  Spinoza considers envy to be our natural state. To quote him again:

  … men are by nature envious that is, they rejoice at the weakness of their fellows and are pained at their accomplishments. Spinoza, The Ethics

  However he goes on to say that we are only envious of those we consider to be our peers. Most of us would not rejoice at the misfortunes of a poor child in an under developed country. Similarly we are not envious of the Queen of England – although some people are jealous. In most cases we are envious of our peers – the people we work with or who live down our street.

  Schopenhauer considers schadenfreude to be more than a negative emotion, but wickedness itself.

  There is no more unfailing sign of a thoroughly bad heart and profound moral worthlessness than a streak of pure, heartfelt schadenfreude. One should avoid for ever anyone in whom one has perceived it. Schopenhauer

  From this we can understand why Schopenhauer avoided most of the human race, as we would too if we were to take his advice to heart. We should also try to avoid ourselves – which most of us do quite successfully through denial.

  As always the understanding of these emotions diminishes their power. But to understand them we have to see them, as unpleasant as this might be. For most people this will not happen – they simply do not have enough self-honesty.

  Sometimes if I want some entertainment I will attend a social event to watch the faces that look like they have just sucked on a lemon, and the other faces of triumph as they manage to assert superiority. Welcome to the chimp’s tea party.

  ASS KISSING AND VENOM SPITTING

  How many times a day do you kiss ass? Probably more than you might want to admit. We kiss ass when we belie
ve that someone has something that will enhance our power in life. There is a trade-off. By kissing ass, we diminish our power to make the one whose ass we kiss feel more powerful. If you are diminished I am stronger – and vica versa.

  Ass kissing can take many forms. Disciples can kiss the ass of their guru, employees the ass of their manager, people in relationships, can indulge in ass kissing, students kiss teacher ass – and so on. A real relationship does not involve ass-kissing. A real disciple will challenge the guru. I know of a female disciple of Gurdjieff who regularly questioned him – he didn’t object. However the sycophants hanging around him did mind, and for one it just got too much. A small incident was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and he suddenly screamed “You fucking bitch.” The lady in question found it hilarious. The man who yelled is a well-known figure in the Gurdjieff tradition.

  As far as students kissing their teacher’s or lecturer’s ass is concerned – it works. I know a lecturer very well, and she tells me that ass kissing as examinations or assessments approach is a sound strategy.

  Personal relationships nearly always involve some level of ass-kissing, since many relationships are built on mutual ego stroking. “Oh, you are so clever.” “You look a million dollars.” It doesn’t work in the long term since egos are insatiable and no amount of stroking is enough. Some relationships go beyond the ass kissing, but many do not. New relationships are needed to keep the ego stroking alive. It is also the case that many long-term relationships are secured by one party being the ass kisser and the other being the venom spitter. Neither party will indulge in this behavior unless they feel they are getting something out of it. I’ve known many ass kissers who tolerate the abuse of a venom spitter because they think the latter lends them some power (the venom spitter is wealthy, is vain or believes they are superior to everyone else and has convinced the ass kisser that this is the case).

  The other side of the coin is venom spitting. Remember – when someone else is weaker, you are stronger. So we see groups of people, and individuals, stigmatizing other groups or individuals to make them weaker, and as a consequence, the oppressors feel stronger. History is awash with examples of this – religious, ideological and ethnic persecution.

  More insidious however is the day-in and day-out ass kissing and venom spitting performed by Mr. and Mrs. Ordinary. Having successfully transferred the blame for poverty and other hardships on the unemployed, the British government then turned its attention to immigrants. After successfully convincing a large portion of the population that immigrants were taking jobs and consuming public services, to everyone else’ detriment, a referendum was held on whether to leave the European Union. Most people voted to leave – particularly the old and embittered. They needed a scapegoat for their misery, and immigrants were as good as anything else. So the immigrants feel diminished, and the majority of the population feels empowered – such is human nature. The United States government and many others also seem to be pursuing this strategy – and it works.

  The vast majority of people, organizations, and groups indulge in ass kissing and venom spitting – and it will never change. The brutish survival instinct that drives all creatures demands this kind of behavior.

  I was reminded of this when I accidentally came across an online photograph of a Nazi officer executing an emaciated Jew with his pistol. Venom spitting at its most extreme.

  WHY NOTHING IS GOING TO CHANGE

  “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.” - The Who

  For as long as I can remember there have been various pundits claiming that we're on the verge of a new age. A new era of spiritual enlightenment maybe. I'm old enough to remember the age of Aquarius, which was going to be a wonderful new age. Doesn't seem to have happened, does it? There's a reason why nothing is going to change. Sounds like a terribly pessimistic thing to say, but it isn't if you really understand the nature of the situation. We forever look for external things, maybe a new political regime, a new spiritual movement, something out there that is going to change everything. Most of us are reasonably cognizant of the amount of suffering in the world, and the so-called injustices, and right now things seem to be getting worse rather than better. This takes an extreme form in the Christian idea of the second coming of Christ when all the good people will go to heaven, and all the rest of us are going to burn in hell. Well, who knows? It might happen, but I personally don't give a lot of credence to that. We're looking in the wrong place, looking out there, because there's nothing out there that's going to change. The sun will rise every day for as long as you and I are around, people will be exploitative of other people as long as you and I live. A fairer political system, more tolerance, more equitable distribution of wealth and all those things are not going to happen. Please don't think that we're on the verge of some new age, we are not. I'll go into why that's the case right now.

  We need to understand the nature of existence. Every creature that exists has an utterly unquenchable thirst for existence. It wants to continue in its life. That applies as much to an ant as it does to a human being. If you threaten an ant, it will scurry away in an attempt to avoid danger and possible death. Same thing with human beings. This will to life, as Schopenhauer called it, is the primary drive in all creatures, including man, and we will do almost anything to ensure that we continue in our survival at an individual level and also at a group level, and that's why we have wars between nations. This will to life was well understood by Spinoza too. He said the very essence of man is desire - the desire to persist in his existence. That is the essence of what you and I are. You might try and put all kinds of fancy wrapping around it, but when it comes down to it, we may do some unspeakable things if it means that we continue with our existence. This desire for survival is not a passive kind of thing. It says that people are desperate for more experience, they want more of life, they want to visit more places, acquire more stuff, more money, they want more power because all these things enhance their potential in life and that is what most of us are after. Personally, I'm not really after all that, I've been there done it - got the T-shirt as they say, and I found it all boring, dull and unsatisfying. But most people go after that, people who've got a billion dollars want ten billion dollars. People who employ 500 people want to hire 5000 people, just because of the power it gives them. It's endless and you see it in the animal world, you see animals sparing for mating rights, you see them encroaching on each other's territory. Chimpanzees are dreadful creatures. They will invade a neighboring area, kill a lot of the chimps in a nearby environment, and the way they kill them is relatively unpleasant. This is nature. Nature has it's own aims, nature wants diversity and proliferation. Nature has no interest in the individual creature, it just wants more and more experience, more and more life and it really doesn't matter how that's achieved as far as nature is concerned.

  Let me just quote a few things from Schopenhauer because Schopenhauer of all people understood this very very well, in fact, his main work which is called The World as Will and Representation. The world as will, this drive for survival. He says as long as our will is the same our world cannot be other than it is. I'll repeat that. As long as our will is the same our world cannot be different than it is. Our will is the will-to-life, and this will-to-life means that we kill animals to eat them. Most people, if they see an animal slaughtered are somewhat repulsed by it, but they stick it to the back of their mind so that that reality is not in front of them when they consume the next juicy steak or have some excellent pork sausages. As long as this will is the same, this will-to-life, nothing is going to change for humanity as a whole.

  There will be no spiritual revolution, there will be no economic revolution, no political revolutions that deliver anything useful to the mass of people because people are all driven by this will for survival. As a species we're unique in that we can identify with concepts, so we identify with the notion of the United States or the notion of Christianity or Islam or Buddhism. We transfer our very e
xistence, our very power for survival onto these things. As long as we're doing this, as long as we're driven by the will to survive nothing is going to change. I'm sorry all you new age prophets, but there is not a new earth.

  People are forever hopeful that something out there is going to change or that there's some inner work going on within mankind that's going to cause it to change. We only have to look at the rules of the game - creatures exist by inflicting pain and suffering on other beings in the main. It's how it works. Men assume power and magnify their will-to-life by acquiring money, position, and authority. This means that the mass of people is subjugated in some kind of way. If you took an ordinary man in the street, someone who is objecting that the bankers should not do what they do and that the political elite should not be as corrupt as they are, and so on, and put that man in the position of one of those people, he will do exactly the same. 99 times out of 100 anyway.

  Gurdjieff has something to say about this. He said that nature requires that the masses of people live like animals, that they are driven by their passions and their emotions and are wholly identified with their state, as animals are. When animals are happy, they are the happiness. When an animal is fearful, it is the fear, and that is the way it is with most people, driven by their passions and emotions. So nature requires that human beings live like animals. People are primarily driven by this will-to-life and will do anything to guarantee that they continue their existence. He says that liberation and understanding are for the few.

  So the masses of humanity are in this deep sleep, and they're lost in dreams. It's an unfortunate situation in reality, and they turn their back on any wisdom or knowledge that might be available. Liberation is for those who have a look around and are not fooled by externals - the hope that things will change on their own. This change within oneself requires work, it doesn't happen on its own, and so we have to go into our animal nature to see it in all its glory. The hatred, the envy, the derision, the lust for power, the need to put other people down so that we feel good, all the things that human being do and above all, spiritual people. If you've been a member of any kind of spiritual movement, then you will know that envy and jealousy are more prevalent in those groups than they are anywhere else.